Fill In The Blank Friday

It has been a very long while since I've had the time on a Friday to fill in any blanks! Right now I'm supposed to be studying for my last exam, so I'm sort of procrastinating... but until I can figure out this topic I'm just going to  stop and play this game. 

1. A nervous habit I have is picking at my nails! You know the fiddling thing you do where one will slide under the other one, back and forth making that horrid scratchy noise. Yeah, that!

2.   Something that makes me sad is discovering that three of my baby ducks had been eaten by a sly, but very smart fox the other night! Poor little guys.

3.  Today I am thankful for all the support that my friends have given me over the last week whilst I've been losing my mind studying for exams.

4. My favorite room in my house is my bedroom! Because it has my bed in there.

5.  I can't stand passive aggressive Facebook status updates! And I know by saying this without mentioning any names is passive in itself. But seriously, if you don't have the balls to say whatever you're updating to the person's face, then don't say it at all.

6.  If I had an extra $100 to spend on whatever I wanted today I would have bought my Mum the outfit I just helped her pick out. That or take everyone I love out for dinner this evening. Which will be happening anyway, I just cant afford to pay for it all! Ha!

7.  The last person I hung out with was Joel and my Mum while we had a fantastic Mexican lunch! 

If you'd like to play along and enter in your own blanks this fine Friday, head on over to The Little Things We Do. 

Have a great weekend!!! 

30 Days of Lists

I got a little antsy with the whole 30 Days of Lists challenge starting tomorrow and created myself an acceptance letter to act as the 'cover' for my lists to come. This time round, I've decided that I am not going to stick to any one particular way to share my lists. Instead, I am just going to create them as I feel. I would love to have the time to create each of them digitally, but if that isn't the case I'll just have to use my good old Buffalo Journal.

Are you participating in 30 Days of Lists? 

If so, leave your link in the comments below so I can follow!

Mondayitis and a bit of Bloggers Block

I arrive at the same point each Monday morning, sometimes it's Tuesday, and I think to myself my gosh I've really neglected that Blog of mine lately. Part of this is due to lack of time (I just worked over 32 hours on the weekend!) but for the most part I am suffering from one great big case of Blogger's Block. You know there is a situation when your own boyfriend even points out your online absence!

So where am I at? Well I have a bunch of drafts, a bunch of post ideas and a bunch of unshared photos. But I just do not have the motivation or inspiration to share them. Even my last post about my amazing time at Splendour In The Grass was cut incredibly short and reduced to a page of photos in an attempt to cover what I could not manage put into words. Then time elapses and I figure that it's just a little too late to write about something I did two weeks ago.

What's probably worse than this is the fact that I have completely missed my regular features, including my monthly recap and Sunday Sounds. I live for those posts! And I missed them!! More than once!! We're halfway through August and I've managed to throw together one sloppy post. This saddens me greatly.

So now this post turns part reach-out and part challenge.

I've done some research on the subject and have found many post's dedicated to the Blogger's Block curse itself. Many of them offer the same knowledge; lower your standards, start with a headline and end with a deadline etc. But all of that just isn't inspiring to me. Others suggest taking a break, but that's not an option. So I'm left to draw some inspiration from you guys! What do you do when you are feeling particularly uninspired and fallen prey to the dreaded Bloggers Block?

And in return for your wisdom, I am making a promise to reacquaint myself with this little world. Time to play catch up!

Under Construction

I’ll be making some modifications around these parts over the next couple of days. So if anything looks a little peculiar, now you know why. I use to know basic HTML coding back in the day, so let’s see if I still have it.

Coming soon… all new graphics, a new layout, much more organisation and a fancy new blog roll featuring some of my favorite friends and daily reads! Bare with me!

Versatile Blogger Award

In the calamity that was last week's exam period I completely forgot that the lovely Erinj0 from her self titled blog had passed on this little blog award. I think these are a super sweet way to show someone that you adore what they have to say and the things they share, even though the fact that people actually read this blog of mine sometimes escapes me (especially being so new). But I really enjoy seeing the blogs nominated by others on lists like these and have found a number of daily reads through them! So yes, I will definitely participate!

This award requires the recipient to tell five facts about themselves. But since I often disclose my likes and dislikes, and all the basic facts can be found on my About Me, I'm going to tell you some trivial things that I have never shared before...

1. If I were born a boy, my name was going to be Ryan. Seems odd!?
   
2. Once my shoelace got caught in an escalator and I totally thought I was going to die. A nice man grabbed my ankle and ripped it back out though. 
   
3. I have a hidden love for barber shop quartet! So on occasions I'll just sit here and watch online videos until I get my a cappella fix. 
   
4. Boys use to tease me all through Primary AND the early years of High School. That's why I confided in books, locked myself in the library and dreamed about spending the rest of my life with Harry Potter.
   
5. I've known that I wanted to be a Lawyer since I was eleven years old, back when all the other kids were planning on becoming Rock Stars, Actresses or Professional Skateboarders.

It's my pleasure to pass this award on to five other versatile blogs I rather enjoy. Some are very well established and form part of my daily reads and others just beginning to flourish offering some really sweet stuff.

Pixie Mama

My Beautiful Disaster

Jesslyn Amber

My New Life As A Housewife 

Bird Fly Away

Time Capsule

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Since the start of June, I have been participating (rather briefly) in The 30 Day Journal Challenge hosted by Run With Scissors. Each of the daily prompts have been fantastic, and I've been able to jot down my answer in a timely manner, alongside my exam study. However, one of the prompts this week had me completely stumped! Participants were asked, "If you were to make a time capsule today, that wouldn't be opened for 100 years, what would you put in it?". The question was completely hypothetical, allowing ideas to be as strange as they could be. But, I still struggled with the thought of parting with some of my prized possessions today, only for them to be opened by some stranger in 2111. After some thought though, I figured that all that really needs to be in there is a little bit of evidence that I existed, and some other kick ass stuff! I would include...

• A handful of photos showing snippets of my life.
• A journal, possibly the one I'm doing now, to detail what life is like nowadays.
• Harper Lee's To Kill A Mocking Bird (just in case hard copy books cease to exist). 
• A mix tape of my favorite songs. 
• My Grandma's recipe for scones. 
• A copy of Frankie Mag (in case they don't exist either). 
• Some sort of jewelry to become heir-loomy. 

If you could create your 100 year time capsule today, what would you put in it?

And! If you are looking for a little monthly project, I strongly recommend heading over to Run With Scissors to play along! Its not too late! I'll share some of my entries soon.

Fill In The Blank Friday... On Saturday

Fill In The Blank Friday with Lauren of The Little Things We Do has fastly become my favorite link-up! They are quick little prompts that I can always fill in during the spare moments I have between jobs, but then I leave thinking about them for the rest of the day! If you don't play along already, I suggest you do. Its tonnes of fun!

1. I love the end of the semester because that means that holidays are so very soon!!!

2. A time that Mama knew best was when her and Papa stepped in and held a little intervention for something that wasn't so great in my life! I quit my job as a result and started on a path of positivity. Thank gosh, because I am probably the happiest I have ever been!

3. My first kiss went a little like this... a little quick and nervous peck in the 9th grade. Yes, THE NINTH GRADE! Either I was the only person in high school that thought that boys still had cooties! Or I was THAT girl that no body dare wanted to kiss. I'm not sure :(

4. My celebrity crush is Johhny Depp. And always will be! So much talent!

5. My splurge of choice is food! I don't really eat that much. But I like to go out on dinner dates a lot.

6. My biggest accomplishment is my studies! Getting into University, already completing one degree and being part way through another is probably by biggest achievement to date.

7. My dance jam of choice is Lady GaGa. Not for any particular reason. But just because it's always playing in someone's car when we're going out as a group.

Head over to The Little Things We Do to see what other people have filled their blanks with!

Fill In The Blank Friday

Its that time again... that five hour block of boredom between winding down from University and heading to work at the bar. Thank gosh we have Lauren and her little blog link-up to save the day!

1. People always tell me I look like Katherine Heigl! I would always get, "you remind me of that Grey's Anatomy chick" or "that lady from Knocked Up". Not so much these days, but I could definitely see the similarities when I had blonde hair. She doesn't have the same out of proportion teeth to gum ratio when she smiles like I do. HA!

2. Friends don't let friends date weirdo's! Unfortunately there was once a situation where I fell a little short of this friendship requirement. I lead my best friend astray one night... Right into the arms of someone who I thought was a genuinely nice guy, but who ended up being the kind with a little too much baggage! That's not a story for the interweb though!

3. A sunny day is perfect for feeling guilty for being inside! That's why each Summer I promise myself to make the most out of every blissful day. It's almost Winter here now, and mother nature has been giving us weather that makes me feel the complete opposite of guilty for rugging up and snuggling inside.

4. My favorite accessory is rings! Especially big unique looking ones! Even if I have absolutely no other jewelry on, I will always wear something on my fingers. They just feel naked otherwise!

5. If I could afford it I would take the second half of the year off Uni and travel! I'm finding myself getting increasingly frustrated at home these days, and I think it's mainly because of routine. But that may just be ending soon... and I may just have some exciting travel news coming up!

6. The cure for boredom is picking up your phone and giving someone a call! Even if you can't meet in real life, you can definitely kill some hours catching up!

7. I'm currently in "like" with sushi! I know I said this last week, but it's becoming a serious deal! I eat at the same sushi train three times a week on average! And if for some reason I don't have time to stop in, I get takeaway! It really is that amazing.

If you want to play along and you don't do so already, head over to The Little Things We Do to join in!

The Simple Things In Life

The lovely Jesslyn Amber (the face behind her self-titled blog) is now hosting the sweetest link-up! Its called The Simple Things In Life and is centered around the idea of appreciating all the wonderful things in life that we usually wouldn't cast a second thought towards. She believes it to be a great way to remain optimistic and remember that "life is about enjoying the little, special, simple joys of our everyday".

I originally started this little blog of mine for the exact same reasons! I was in a place of complete negativity and was searching for a way to put aside the trials and tribulations of the previous chapters of my life and move forward in a more positive light... And it certainly worked! So I will definitely be playing along. There aren't any rules with this link-up, you can participate using photos, lists, written excerpts or whatever takes your fancy!

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For my first contribution to The Simple Things In Life, I would like to stop and appreciate the warmth of an open fire. Since moving to my new house just over a year ago, I have been able to experience the comfort of heat in its raw fire form (so so so much better than an electric heater). The winter weather has seemed to arrive a month in advance here in Australia, and so the fire has been started much earlier than usual. Although I can lay in front of it for hours, I always seem to forget that it needs more wood to stay alive! I think my kitty enjoys it the most. It's Mindy's first winter, and while she was terrified of the fire on the first night she has become very fond of it now. She no longer sleeps at the foot of my bed, but rather at the foot of the fireplace. I'll have to take one of those cliche' cat sleeping in front of the fire type photos. Either way though, it is impossible to whine about being chilled to the bone when you have a fireplace!

Head over to Jessyln Amber to check out her list of simple musings, and play along next Thursday! 

Fill In The Blank Friday

1. What I love most about my home is how peaceful it can be! On those blissfully sunny mornings when my dogs are lazing about in the sun and not creating a ruckass, I love that I can sit on my front veranda and just listen to nothing but nature. It's mainly farm noises, but nature nonetheless. It's much better than the sounds of the suburbs anyway.   

2. I'm excited because I only have one more month of this semester to go! And then I get to enjoy a 6 week break!  

3. My preferred method for blowing off steam when I'm frustrated is usually just to have a good cry about it. Sometimes if it's something trivial that has managed to frustrate me, I write one of those really cryptic but still easily decoded status updates on Facebook. I never post them though. Just the writing is relief enough.   

4. Currently I am not craving anything. I am pretty well fed today.   

5. The thing I love most about my mom is her kind nature. She will almost always be thinking about other people before thinking about herself. She always likes to see everyone in their best light. That and she is super supportive!

6. If I was going to write a book about my life, the title would be "Far From The Mocking World", the same as my blog. Like I've mentioned before, the title would be the love child of "To Kill A Mocking Bird" and "Far From The Madding Crowd", but have nothing to do with either of those books. I've explained it better in my About Me.  

7. If I were to eat one thing for the rest of eternity it would be mushrooms! In fresh form, in baked form, in grilled form, in salad form, in pie form and even in fried form! (I think I'm reconsidering saying that I didn't have any cravings today...)

That's all from me today. Pretty short and sweet, I know. I am off to the bar tonight, and then working for the remainder of the weekend. I hope you all enjoy yours!

Head over to The Little Things We Do to play along!

Fill In The Blank Friday... On Saturday

Lauren from The Little Things We Do hosts a lovely little blog game called 'Fill In The Blank Friday'. For a while now I've read a number of her weekly prompts on Saturday morning (Australia time) and never had the chance to participate. But Friday - Saturday, they're all the same to me anyway. So here goes...

1. I am looking forward to the winter University break. I can feel those wonderful indoorsy type relaxing days already!

2. Something kind of embarrassing that I still love anyway is my addiction to sappy teenage drama TV series, like Make It or Break It and The Secret Life of the American Teenager.

3. My favourite car is one that works!

4. If I could pick one type of weather to live in for the rest of my life it would be one of those Spring, but almost Summer days. You know the one where you wake up, walk outside and the air is crisp but the sun is shining. There are hardly any clouds, hardly any humidity, it's just a perfect sunny day.

5. My favourite thing to do after a bad/stressful day is to walk straight to my bedroom and flop on my bed. I lay there for a while, have a shower and have a nap. The sooner the stressful day is over, the sooner I can wake up to a different day!

6. This weekend I worked on the bar as usual. The rest will be spent relaxing, reading uni notes and having an extravagant birthday dinner with my extended family.

7. If I were a colour I would be blue because according to lifescript.com, blue colors my world with emotion. I seldom jump right in, preferring to stand back and watch people and situations closely. Blue people are calm, but can also spiral into sadness. With so much emotion, tears of happiness, sadness, anger, or frustration are quite common. (I had no idea where to start answering this question, thank you pointless internet stuff). 


Head over to The Little Things We Do to see what other people wrote, and to participate next week!

Pumpkin & Pine Nuts

Last week I successfully completed my vegetarian challenge! And I enjoyed it so much that I've decided to continue with it. Not only did I feel completely healthy all week, but I fell in love with cooking even more! Of all the dishes I made, one stood out as a clear winner. So much so I even ate it cold! It's only fair that I share the recipe.

Spinach & Ricotta Agnolotti with Roast Pumpkin 

I borrowed the original recipe from Taste.com, but modified it just a little to suit my likings.

If You Don't Eat Your Veggies...

As part of my 101 challenge, I have set the goal to eat a vegetarian diet for a week. This is a challenge that isn't going to be particularly hard, since I am not a really large meat eater on an everyday basis. Time aside though, what I hope to gain from this week is an insight into a healthy vegetarian diet, the planning, the cooking and of course the eating! 

The challenge began yesterday morning, and although I skipped breakfast I started the diet with some avocado and cucumber sushi. For dinner I made Baked Eggplant & Ricotta Rolls served with a side of Polenta. To my surprise, I didn't ruin the dish and it tasted amazing.

I am looking forward to trying my hand at the other meals I have planned.

Whats your favourite Veg dish?

Handwriting Challenge

After Ashley from Under Those Neon Lights commented on my handwriting a few posts down, I remembered that I had participated in the blogging handwriting challenge and never actually shared it.

This little cure for boredom has been appearing in many of the blogs I have been reading. It is a cute way to remember that handwriting is still valued, even though most of our writing is done via word processing programs, and as bloggers, our main form of communication is via the Internet. Don't get me wrong, I am still a massive sucker for typography and fancy fonts. But I also admire neat (preferably cursive) handwriting. It's a real shame that I don't use pen & paper that often either. I take my laptop to Uni, write my assessments on Word and there is really no need for writing in a Bar while I am at work. Anyway, here it is...

The handwriting prompts are:

1. What is your name/ your blogs name?

Kaisha - Far From The Mocking World

2. What is your blog URL?

http://farfromthemockingworld.blogspot.com

3. Write "The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog". 

4. Write your favorite quotation. 

"Hope is a waking dream" - Aristotle. 

5. What is your favorite song?

The Captain and the Hourglass - Laura Marling.

6. What music do you like right now?

Noah & The Whale, Lykke Li & Seabellies. 

7. Is there anything else you'd like to add about your handwriting?

I have had the same handwriting since high school. 

8. What three bloggers do you want to follow suit?

Since I wasn't tagged by anyone to do this, I would like everyone who is interested to participate!

If you end up doing this, let me know in the comment section so I can check it out!